The 'Accredibase Report' is the result of an 18-month international research project by Eyal Ben Cohen and Rachel Winch of Verifile Limited, one of the leading background screening firms in the United Kingdom,

Report co-author Ben Cohen says: "We have so far identified 1,762 fake institutions, and we are still investigating a further 1,545 currently filed as ‘suspicious' before publishing them on the 'Accredibase' database."

Alarmingly, the US was found to be the world's fake college capital, with 810 diploma mills already identified and many more still under investigation as the Report went to press. More than 35 percent of the diploma mills operate in California, Hawaii, Washington and Florida. The world's second biggest concentration of fake colleges was in the UK, the Report exposing 271 bogus institutions, making the UK the centre of Europe's bogus colleges scam.

- Contact details are limited to an email address and the institution is vague about its location. - Sample certificates, transcripts or verification letters are available to view on the website. - It makes over-complicated or misleading claims about accreditation or recognition. - Its name is similar to that of a recognized and respected education institution.